What She Needs
by alltherealice
Summary: A slightly vindictive, and slightly delusional Spike notices Willows odd behavior after the Gentlemen's visit. He of course comes to the obvious conclusion that she is in love with him. :COMPLETE:
1. Spike Realizes

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the inhabitants of it's universe do not belong to me. It's sad, I know, because I could make them do such funny things, but the fact remains that if I was charging you admission to read this story, and claiming I owned it, I would be sued and that would be sad. They all belong to Joss Whedon.   
  
A/N: Takes place in Season 4 after the Gentlemen. I know Spike should probably be living with Xander or in his crypt, but I don't want him to, so he and Giles are still living together.   
  
I want to thank my beta Missy, whose help improved this story a lot more than I would of seen had she not offered to help. Thank you!!   
  
What She Needs  
  
By Alltherealice  
  
Spike looked over at The Witch, that's what he called her in his head, and whenever he referenced her in the conversations with his cohabitants. Well, really only The Watcher was an official cohabitant. He chose to call their living situation that, because there was no way he was calling Rupert Giles a flat mate, or god forbid a room mate which conjured up images of giggling teenage girls who painted each others finger nails.   
  
The others he referenced as cohabitants, because they were there often enough to consider paying The Watcher rent. Just as a courtesy. Which they should have as they were the "good guys" the bleeding white hats and all.   
  
The Witch had been acting weird ever since the Gentlemen arrived in town a few months earlier. But then if he really thought about it, he would have to say that the Witch was usually acting weird. 'As she is weird and all,' Spike thought.  
  
She seemed to get lost in her thoughts a lot more; she would fidget and blush, and avoid looking at any of the others in the room while she had these thoughts.   
  
Spike was pretty sure he knew what the reason behind all this was. She had a crush on him. He didn't blame her as he was a prime example of what a real vampire should be; at least he had been before he got the chip tucked snugly into his brain.   
  
PC (Pre Chip) he had been a gorgeous, evil, undead creature of the night who killed puppies and virgins and had sex. A lot of sex.   
  
And now, while he was still gorgeous, and evil, and undead, he had adapted to the Scoobie teams hours. It was hard to get any bleeding sleep while they were stirring up a racket over the evil of the week. And he killed, but his kills were now more of the puppy killer and virgin killer variety. And the sex part was kind of lacking.   
  
He still had sex, mind you; it was just usually with himself.   
  
If his current line of thinking was correct, and he was practically positive it was, he was having a lot of sex currently, just in the Witch's mind.   
  
Then again the Witch was so fluffy, and non evil, and sweet that they were probably just holding hands and saving babies and watching Interview With a Vampire.   
  
Spike sighed and meandered over to the couch, a mug of blood warming his undead hand as he settled on the couch, for what promised to be a *fun filled* evening of 'Guess Which Demon Needs to Be Killed Tonight.'   
  
Or Early Tomorrow Morning, Spike amended as they crack team of demon experts continued to come up with nil on the slimy creature 4 hours later.   
  
It almost made him want to tell them that it was a Dibner demon, his name was Earl, and he was planning on feasting on the elderly in less than 24 hours.   
  
It was really kind of sad when you lived a vicariously evil life through someone named Earl. Though he realized this, it just made him madder, and made him want to tell the Slayer even less.   
  
'Take that you annoying bint,' he thought angrily and glared at the Slayer over the rim of his empty mug as he got up off the couch and went to refill it.   
  
The fact that Chubs was cursing at the books and had yet to find Earl, didn't hurt either. Smirking as he entered the kitchen he stashed the book he'd been using as a coaster in a random kitchen drawer.   
  
Yeah, he was still evil.   
  
When he returned to the research room he noticed that the Witch had taken up residence on his couch, obviously in an attempt to sit by him without being obvious. The fact that the arm rest easily served as a makeshift computer table only served to solidify the fact to her friends that she was just there out of necessity.   
  
He knew better, he was older and wiser, and he noticed the slightly glazed look in the Witch's eyes. It was lust; he could read it a mile away. Again he really didn't blame her.   
  
Sighing loudly to convey the fact he was not pleased to be stuck in a study session, he settled onto the same couch closer to the Witch than was probably necessary, but no one noticed as they tended to ignore him anyway. Which only worked to his favor as a plan of evil deviousness quickly built itself in his head. Casually laying one arm over the back of the couch he leaned over to get a look at the Witch's laptop. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, scooting over so she was pressed fully against the arm rest so there was more space between them.   
  
She obviously didn't trust herself near him.   
  
He gave her a genuine smile, but one that looked like it was forced, so she didn't get suspicious or anything. It was a kind of, I really hate being here, how 'bout you? She just gave him a near smile which made her look vaguely nauseous, before turning her full attention back to the computer screen and scooting further away from him. He watched her covertly out of the corner of his eye and noticed a few minutes later that she started blushing as she hit the keys on her laptop furiously before closing the screen down and standing off the couch in a hurry.   
  
"Hey Buff. Since we're not really finding anything, and I have class early tomorrow, I'm gonna head back to the dorm and try and get a few hours sleep. Ok? Ok." She didn't wait for a response just shoved her computer book into her bag and headed for the door. Spike stood as well and headed for the kitchen, dumping his mug in the sink he retrieved the book from the drawer and casually deposited it on one of the many stacks as he retrieved his coat from where it was draped over a chair.   
  
"Where are you going Spike?" The Watcher asked, barely glancing up from the book he was studying.   
  
"Who cares?" The Boy interjected from where he was sitting on the floor with his legs spread out beneath the coffee table. Demon Girl was sitting back to back with him, she was asleep.   
  
"Well," Spike answered, a lie quickly forming itself in his mind, "I wasn't aware we were just allowed to up and leave when we got bored, so as I'm bored, and have been since the moment I woke up this morning, I figured I would go find something to kill." And with no more ado he high tailed it out of The Watchers apartment heading in the direction he saw the Witch shrinking into.   
  
He quickly caught up with her, as he was preternaturally fit and all. She was only walking at a brisk pace in the direction of the campus. The Witch jumped when she saw him appear by her side silently. "What do you want?" She asked, somewhat nastily. He mentally frowned at that, because girls weren't generally nasty to the boys they liked.   
  
'Men.' He amended.   
  
'Vampires.' He re-amended. 'Nasty, evil, infuriatingly handsome vampires. Yeah, that sounded right.'   
  
"What? Isn't this a free country? Isn't that what your whole country was built upon? Freedom of life and speech for it's citizens?" He demanded.   
  
"You're not a citizen Spike. You're British and you're dead. You're probably here illegally as well." She reminded him, all of that was true. He technically was an "illegal alien" as they generally didn't hand out passports to the walking dead, but he didn't worry about semantics, he was an evil mastermind after all. That's what minions were for.   
  
"Well that was kind of hurtful Pet." He called her pet when he was talking to her because he occasionally had trouble remembering her name and he was pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate being called The Witch.   
  
"So," She said, giving him her best imitation of an evil glare. "You're evil you probably enjoy hurtful things." She started walking faster, muttering something under her breath which sounded like something along the lines of "something, something, something Vampire something else Freak." He smiled to himself and walked a little faster to catch up with her.   
  
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" He questioned and heard her sigh in response and turn a corner sharply.   
  
"Why are you following me?" She asked suddenly stopping and turning to look at him, he ground to a stop next to her and rolled his eyes.   
  
"I'm not following you," He informed her, "I'm heading to the cemetery to kill some nasties, and I figured since we were going in the same direction we could walk together. I could protect you should some nasty vacate the cemetery bounds, and you could have the pleasure of my company." He shrugged, "It's a win, win situation as far as I can see."   
  
"Well, Spike, as much as I enjoy being insulted and intimidated by you, I think I can make it back to campus on my lonesome. Seeing as I have survived in this town a lot longer than you. Thanks for the offer though."   
  
Spike smiled as he watched her walk away, shrinking into the distance. She was a good block away when he started following her again, watching with a shake of his platinum blond head as she cut into the cemetery for a shortcut. 


	2. Willow Doubts

Thanks to the two people who reviewed. No three, someone sent one straight to my email. Big thanks to Gabrielle who reviewed twice. I dedicate this chapter to you, because I'm the author and I can do that. See the power you get when you write? You should try it out. :)  
  
Also big thanks to Missy who betaed again and sent it back still mostly black and white. Big boost for my ego, which it really doesn't need.   
  
------  
  
Things, unfortunately did not go Spike's way. He had hoped to follow the Witch into the cemetery, which he did, but past that things did not go according to plan. No nasty of any sort jumped out to make dinner of her, giving him no chance to save her by tackling her to the ground, then he would get up kill the demon, and go back to her, where they would...   
  
'Where they would what, exactly?' Spike asked himself. He was realistic enough to know he was not going to get a shag out of the Witch. If he had saved her life and pressed his manly body all up against her body, which since Wolfboy left he assumed she has been without the touch of a man, she would give in and he was pretty sure he would be able to get a snog out of her, a grope at best. Which would excite her maidenly crush on him, and soon he would have her under his control. He figured if he worked things right he would have a sex slave, and it would all end up happening right under the Slayer's nose. Then when he got the chip out of his head, he would reveal it all, then kill the bitch, and keep the Witch around for awhile longer. He might even end up turning her in the end. He'd probably have to learn her name though.   
  
But instead of things following along that plan, he ended following her at a distance through the cemeteries and onto the college campus. He pondered lurking outside of her dorm room for a little while, but decided that was to much of an Angelus thing to do, and there was no way he was going to do anything that would cause him to end up being thought of as an Nancy Boy?. 'Pfft' He was so much better than that big haired, soul having Ponce that the very idea he wanted to imitate the Neanderthalic-Slayer-loving-gem-stealing-human-helping-arse-hole was laughable. Spike laughed just for good measure before turning away from the window he'd been looking in and heading back to the cemetery. Maybe those demons would be there now.  
  
---  
  
Willow picked dialed a number from memory into the cordless phone, standing beside her window, and looking out them at an angle, so she couldn't be seen from outside. She frowned and then smiled as the person she was calling picked up.  
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Hey."  
  
"Who is this?" A confused voice said on the other line, "I don't know who this could be, because the only person who could be calling me right now, wouldn't be calling me right now because she is supposed to be knocking on my door right about now." Tara replied, confusion evident in her voice.   
  
"I'm sorry Tara." Willow said, scooting away from the window and plopping down on her bed. "I tried to get away, I made it to the dorm, and you'll never believe what happened."   
  
"You'll never believe what happened to me." Tara interjected before Willow could explain herself, "All my clothes they just," Tara paused and sighed, sounding a little sad, "disappeared."   
  
"Disappeared, huh?" Willow replied laughter in her voice, "I wonder how that could have happened?"  
  
"I don't know. You would think, 'Oh, must be magic.' but then magic's all make believe isn't it?" Tara laughed, "So you can't make it then?"  
  
"No. I'm so sorry, I walked right out of study session and everything, but then as I was saying, something really weird happened."   
  
"Okay, Okay. I give what happened?" Tara asked.   
  
"Well remember I told you about Spike, the vampire who's helping us now. He tried to kill me a few times?"  
  
"Um hmm."  
  
"Well, he leaves right after I do, and he'd been acting weird all night. He was watching me a few times, but then he left the room for something. So I move up to the couch where he was sitting, because I figure he's leaving, and Anya was trying to read our emails while pretending to be asleep, and you know, that stuffs private. So then he come back and sits right next to me. And he smiles at me this big phony smile. And scoots a little closer. And that was right when you sent me that last email. So I get up and leave, because I wanted to come see you." Willow smiles as she pauses in her narration to lean over and take off her shoes and socks before laying down in bed and cuddling her pillow, still holding the phone to one ear, before continuing,   
  
"So I'm walking over and Spike appears. And he's like, 'Hey little girl, I'm your knight in shining armour'" Willow pauses as Tara laughs at her very bad Spike imitation, smiling widely at the sound, "And then he gets all offended when I tell him to leave me alone. And then I cut into the cemetery, and he thinks he's being sneaky, but Hey! I've lived on the hellmouth my whole life, I know when I'm being followed, so I come to my dorm instead, because you know he would blab this to everyone or blackmail me or something. 'Cause he's evil and everything." Willow finished in a rush wincing at the words she hadn't meant to say. It hurt Tara's feelings whenever she brought up not telling people about them. It wasn't that she wasn't going to, but she wanted to enjoy it before everyone tried to make them feel bad about it.   
  
"Yeah he is." Tara said, slightly more subdued.   
  
"Isn't that weird though?" Willow asked, trying to get them back in happy mode.   
  
"Yeah. Weird." She heard Tara sigh and say, "Look I gotta go, since your not coming over I'm gonna get to work on my economics paper."  
  
"Wait. Wait!" Willow said hurriedly, "You didn't hear the weirdest part yet. So I came in my room and I checked the windows, like I do every night, and he's standing out there. But he's not looking at me. But he is, you know. So I duck over into the corner where he can't see me, but I can see him, and then all of a sudden he laughs, and then he looks up at my window one more time before leaving."   
  
"Yeah, thats weird too. Look I really need to go, can I call you in the morning?"   
  
"Tara, don't be mad. Please. You know what, get dressed, lets go tell them right now." Willow was already leaning down and grabbing her shoes, and pulling them on without socks.   
  
"What? No! Willow, no!" Tara said loudly, "No, I know you want to wait to tell them. I understand. I'm not mad."   
  
"Promise?"   
  
"Promise."   
  
"Are you still gonna go?" Willow asked, her voice small as she waited for the answer.   
  
"No. So Spike, yeah that really is strange." Her voice still didn't sound as enthusiastic as she had at the start of the conversation, but it was warming up. "I think maybe he has a crush on you." She teased.  
  
"What? No!" Willow shrieked, startled, unconsciously echoing her girlfriends earlier protest. "Spike doesn't have a crush on me. Thats crazy talk."   
  
"Well I don't know, I happen to think your pretty crushable."   
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"Oh yeah. If I didn't already know what you looked like naked, I'd be imagining it most of the day. Everyday." She heard Tara laugh, "Oh, look at that, I'm picturing it now."   
  
"The idea of me naked makes you laugh? There's something wrong with that picture." Willow protested, pulling off the shoe she had pulled on.  
  
"So are you still naked?" Willow asked conversely settling back against her pillows. Things were right with her girl again. Even though her girl was slightly cracked thinking Spike had a crush on her. Crush indeed. 


	3. Spike Plots, Willow Plans

Author Note: Ha ha! It's done! Chapter three at least. Two more to go and then it'll be complete. Sorry for the wait folks.  
  
Thanks to Missy my beta, who didn't call me an idiot when I forgot a whole section, and who got it back to me quite speedily! Thank you so much.   
  
What She Needs   
  
Chapter 3  
  
Willow yawned for the twenty-third time since she had entered her Psych class. It wasn't that the class was particularly boring. No, Willow was almost positive that the topic on which Professor Walsh was speaking was fascinating, but Willow for her part could not concentrate. But, she could remember how many times she had yawned since she crossed the threshold into the classroom. Life was odd.   
  
The reason she was having so much trouble concentrating was that she was tired. She and Tara had ended up talking on the phone a lot longer than either of them meant to, because a certain Slayer had decided to stay out all night "slaying". But what Buffy called slaying, Xander called, "boffing Captain America". However, Willow was a polite young lady, so she pretended like she believed her best friend's excuse.  
  
It was nice talking to Tara though, even if she did have weird ideas sometimes, 'Spike has a crush on me indeed.' Willow mentally scoffed, and rolled her eyes as she tried to force herself to pay attention to the Professor. There were three students standing in front of the teacher's desk They all looked vaguely worried, and more obviously nauseous, but that was a common look for the people Maggie Walsh decided to pay special attention to. Willow couldn't figure out a reason for them being there, and Professor Walsh's suddenly monotonous voice was not helping her concentrate, so Willow decided to skip paying attention just this once.   
  
She would go to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight, and tomorrow she would be reasonable, rational, and ready to pay attention in class. 'Not that I'm irrational at the moment.' She quickly added, 'On that front I am the only reasonable party in attendance.' This wasn't really saying much, since only two people were invited to this conversation.   
  
Exhaling a sigh through her nose Willow glanced around the room, the group of three had been weeded down to two, and they were looking a little more worried. Riley was trying to be subtle about the adoring gaze he was bestowing upon Buffy. Buffy for her part, looked torn between pretending to take notes, and returning said gaze. Slouching down in her chair, Willow picked up her pen so it looked like she was participating, not that Willow was a good enough actress to convince Maggie Walsh, but it was the thought that counted, right?   
  
Turning her gaze blankly towards the white board at the very front of the classroom, Willow concentrated on not concentrating. Her mind was blissfully blank for all of three seconds.  
  
'He did say I was bite-able though.' The thought crept up on her of its own volition and Willow frowned at the intrusion and countered with, 'True, but he's Spike. He'd probably bite anything with a pulse.' The other voice in her head, the crazy one who wanted to think that Spike had a crush on her, considered this, and if crazy voice were a real person she would have been giving Willow a look. Willow rolled her eyes and added, 'Well except Xander.'   
  
'He did remember what I was wearing though.' She chewed on her lower lip as the idea's Tara had put forth, and crazy voice had encouraged, began to sound more and more of a possibility. Carefully she weighed her options.   
  
'So say he does like me. Big whoop. I'm with Tara now. I'm not going to forget I'm gay just because some handsome undead guy snaps his fingers. Besides, it's not like I really like him. I mean sure, I think he's attractive, but he's a jerk, and he's tried to kill me on several occasions.' Tapping her pen on her notebook, as if the repetitive action would do more than annoy her fellow class mates, she attempted to inject reality into this mental conversation she was having with herself.   
  
'Fact is. There's more of an argument that he doesn't like me than one that he does. So he followed me home, and peeked over my shoulder. He was probably bored. Spike usually is bored, so that seems pretty likely. Besides that, he's always been with gorgeous women. Drusilla, for all her insanity, was beautiful. Harmony, for all her vapidity, could be called above average as well. If you never talked to her, or heard anything about her. Or spent more than 3 minutes in her presence. If you passed her on the street, for example, and you were invisible, and she was silent, you would think, "Hey now, there's a pretty lady."'   
  
'And me, well I'm not gorgeous in the slightest. I'm cute at best. Spike, for all his non pickiness, probably would not want to attach himself to someone, who couldn't be seen with him without people thinking, "What's he see in her?" And since he's probably not drawn to me for my beauty, what else is he going to be drawn to? My eloquence? The fact that my feet are firmly planted on the side of the good? The fact that the group I associate with has foiled his evil plans time and again?' Willow snorted, at her own stupidity.   
  
'Of course not! Spike's evil, he doesn't have a crush on me. He was being his usual obnoxious self last night. No need to read more into it than is necessary.' Training herself on the front of the class, finding it infinitely easier to pay attention now that those crazy ideas were quashed, Willow quickly copied down the notes she'd missed. Buffy had decided to gaze at Riley, so she would want to copy her notes later.  
  
--  
  
"So where have you been lately?" Buffy asked as she and Willow got ready for another day of college. Willow had been kind of scarce for the past week. They hadn't had nay Hellmouth-style emergencies for almost a week. There wasn't always this much space between Giles' "Oh dear's" They had all learned to view these little breaks as vacations and to take advantage of them while they could. So while they hadn't been to Giles for a research session in awhile, that togetherness was temporarily gone. Willow, however, had been somewhat predisposed more and more lately.   
  
Willow looked startled at Buffy's question, she attempted to hide it by bending over and tying her shoes, while she replied, "Oh you know. I've been around."   
  
"Oh of course." Buffy teased, "Around. Why didn't I look there?" Buffy finished applying her make-up, her mind starting to work as she wondered why her detail loving friend was suddenly so vague. She opened her mouth to call Willow on it, when there was a knock on the door. Willow quickly opened it to reveal Riley, before she ducked out of the room muttering something about an errand she had to run.   
  
Buffy quickly forgot all about Willow's sudden vagueness.   
  
--  
  
Humming under his breath, Spike flipped through the small selection of channels available on the Watchers TV, in a repeating circuit. Without cable, though Spike had never really gotten a chance to get hooked on the entertaining invention, all that was on until 9 am, besides children's cartoons, was news. At nine Sally was on. Which he didn't really mind, since he tried to sleep until 10 at least most days, 'But would it be too much to ask for in a modern,' Spike eyed the array of weapons littering the Watchers work desk, 'supposedly modern flat?'  
  
It was 8:57 am. The longest three minutes of the morning, had started. Spike began flipping through the few channels faster as he heard the Watcher coming out of the kitchen, carrying a mug of tea and a handful of old rags, annoying the Watcher always seemed to make time pass faster.   
  
It at least made it more entertaining for him, anyway.  
  
The Watcher had decided to use their down time of late, as an opportunity to maintain the weapons. The apartment had smelled like rust remover and polish for three days now. The Watcher was very precise at his weapon care. Precise as in excruciatingly slow. Down time, at least when you were siding with the good guys, lasted a very long time.   
  
'Temporarily siding with the good.' Spike corrected, continuing to flip through the channels, he could hear the Watcher gritting his teeth as he got fed up with the repetitive sound. His days were surprisingly empty with only the Slayer stopping by on a regular basis. He almost missed bating the Boy with a few well chosen words. And things had seemed like they were just about to get interesting with the Witch.   
  
She hadn't been by once since he walked her home.   
  
'She's obviously to worried about how she might act to come around me.' Smiling smugly and settling on a channel as the red Sally logo swept onto the screen Spike plotted his next move.   
  
It was Thursday, so the next day all the Scoobies would congregate at The Bronze. He would "run into her" there. She'd be sitting at her table all alone like she usually did, and he'd get back to work on cracking her. Once she got it in her head that he wasn't all bad, 'Which is a fallacy. I'm bad to the bone. I am the very epitome of evil.' he'd strike. And he'd have one very willing slave.   
  
'It's good to be evil.' Spike thought as he settled further into his chair as a woman on screen cried about the fact that her twelve year old daughter was out of control.   
  
--  
  
"Right, so if I can make it up there, can we get together?" Willow paused as she listened to the voice on the other end of the phone. She was at her parents' house, she'd had to find a number, and then she'd just decided to use the phone there. If she'd put off the call then she would have probably chickened out.   
  
"Because I have something important I need to tell you." Another pause before,   
  
"Oh that's great! I'll call you back later tonight to finalize the plans. I love you. Bye." Willow hung up the phone feeling very pleased with herself. Now came the first hard part, first because there were sure to be many to follow in the near future, telling Tara.   
  
To be continued... 


	4. Willow Confesses

AN: Only one chapter to go after this folks. Thanks for reading.   
  
Thanks Missy!  
  
--   
  
What She Needs  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Fiddling with the hem of her shirt, Willow looked towards the entrance of the cafe for what seemed like the millionth time that minute. She wished she wasn't alone. She wished Tara was there, holding her hand and reminding her to breathe. 'Oh, breathe. Thats right, thats what I'm forgetting. Breathing. Breathing is good.' Willow greedily gulped in breath after breath before reminding herself as her head got lighter and lighter that to much breathing was not good. That too much breathing could lead to bad things, 'Like loss of consciousness. Or... other things that aren't healthy.'   
  
She wished Tara was there.   
  
But she wasn't. She was all alone, and no one was going to come and remedy that.  
  
'At least not for another 14 minutes.'  
  
She was early.   
  
--  
  
He was really asking for it. The pus colored demon was unaware of the fact that his immediate future only held bad things, as the demon eyed what he thought was his bounty, Spike plotted his downfall. 'He actually thinks he's going to get away with it. Stupid demons.' Spike thought. With a snort at the stupidity of the demon who was reaching a scaly hand to grab up what he thought, 'Mistakenly thought' he had a right to touch, Spike slapped down his cards on the table.   
  
"Full house boys. Read 'em and weep." Reaching out Spike snatched up the three kittens just as Hank's hand brushed the fur of a calico.   
  
Spike's action was followed by the requisite moaning and groaning, a few halfhearted accusations of cheating thrown in for good measure. The song of the sore losers. Spike smirked as he tossed back a shot of O-neg and collected the cards for the next hand.  
  
--  
  
The table at which she was sitting, no longer alone, was silent.   
  
Willow was almost positive that was for the best.   
  
--   
  
Spike ambled into The Bronze, nonchalant as he walked past grinding couples and rythm-less teenagers. Heading over to the bar he waited as a co-ed ordered an elaborate coffee mixture, full of abbreviations and code words, her companions looked suitably impressed. When she finished he stepped up and ordered a beer. Her companions looked just as impressed with him.   
  
He walked around the main room of The Bronze, managing not to look like he was looking for anyone. He spotted the Boy and Demon Girl taking a breather from dancing at a table. He casually wandered over their way, walking past them, only stopping and backtracking when Demon Girl called out his name. The Boy didn't look pleased at his arrival, which only served to motivate Spike to stay longer.   
  
"So where's the Slayer?" Spike asked scanning the crowd. He didn't see her or her boy toy around.   
  
"She's probably out on patrol with her new commando buddies." The Boy answered, a smile lit his face as he suggested Spike go wander through the cemetery and try and find them. Spike ignored him. He usually did.   
  
"Where's the Witch then?"   
  
"She's in LA for the weekend." Demon Girl answered as she looked around the club, she turned her attention to the Boy, with a suddenness that nearly made Spike jump. "I think she had a new boyfriend. I bet she's having lots of orgasms as we speak." Xander closed his eyes at her choice of words. Not noticing as Spike's face darkened at the thought of what Willow might be doing.   
  
"Hey! Maybe it's Angel!" Anya offered excitedly, she didn't notice Xander's shudder at the very thought as she decided it was time to dance and pulled him towards the dance floor. Xander, for some reason, turned around to inform Spike that Willow was in fact in LA to visit her parents, only to find Spike gone, his beer bottle tottering on the table top.   
  
--  
  
"So your sure they were alright with it?" Tara questioned for the umpteenth time since Willow had gotten back from lunch with her parents. The big coming out lunch with her parents.   
  
Tara had nearly gone into shock when Willow announced the day prior that she was ready to tell everyone about them. Starting with her parents, who were in LA for a conference. She had resisted at first, not sure if Willow was as ready as she said she was to come out to everyone. She was afraid Willow had decided to do it because Tara wanted her to. Which she did, she just wanted Willow to be ready on her own to tell everyone. She didn't want her to do it just to avoid future arguments. But when Willow informed her she would be going to tell her parents she was gay whether Tara decided she come along or not, she had agreed to go along.   
  
Willow, for her part, seemed much calmer now that it was out in the open. Even though she didn't consider her parents the big ones she had to tell, she still felt they deserved to be the first to know. So they were. The Scoobies were next, but for the time being neither of them were thinking about that conversation. What might happen afterwords, how her friends might react. It was to nerve wracking.   
  
--  
  
Willow rolled over in bed and stared at the clock. Almost 1 am. Tara was asleep next to her in bed, but Willow had been unable to sleep.   
  
She was so happy. Her parents knew and had accepted her and Tara. Well they knew, and they at least acted like they liked Tara and accepted Willows decision. Willow hadn't thought their reaction would affect her much, but surprisingly it had lifted a weight off her shoulders she hadn't even felt. Willow knew they probably thought it was standard college experimentation, but in time they'd understand that this wasn't just a college thing, and by then they would be used to it.   
  
Sitting up Willow reached for the phone. She dialed a number and waited for it to be picked up. But no one did. Buffy wasn't home. 'She's probably with Riley.' She debated calling Xander, but she wanted to talk to one of her friends. She decided that Xander wouldn't mind if she woke him, which she doubted she would be doing, and dialed. No answer there either. Willow knew from experience that if neither of her friends answered at their respective dwellings that they were probably at Giles'. Taking the chance she called him.   
  
Giles picked up on the second ring. He sounded very energized, so she knew she probably hadn't woken him up.   
  
"Hey Giles."   
  
"Willow! How are you?" He sounded happy to hear from her, "Is something wrong?"   
  
"No." Willow assured him. "I just couldn't sleep so I called to harass Buffy and Xander, but no one answered. I figured they were probably at your house."  
  
"Yes, we're all here." Giles answered, "Researching you see."   
  
"Oh is everything alright?" Do I need to come back?"   
  
"Oh no dear. Just a run of the mill research session. Would you like to speak to Buffy or Xander?" He asked.   
  
"Well... no. Listen, I'll be back tomorrow evening. Around 6. I need to talk to you all, would it be alright if we met at your house around then?"   
  
"Yes, I suppose that could be worked out. I'll tell everyone."   
  
"Thank you Giles. I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck with your research. Good night."   
  
"Good night Willow. Sleep well."   
  
----- 


	5. Spike Lurks

Authors note at the end because it contains spoilers for this chapter, and if I put it at the top there, well that would kind of defy the point of having actually written a chapter that I'm actually proud of.   
  
Claudia6913 you have my sincere and undying thanks for all your help. I bow at your feet because you deserve it. :bows:   
  
-----  
  
What She Needs  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"So, you know I've been thinking," Tara said as she and Willow pulled to a stop in front of the apartment. It was where Willow's defacto father figure lived and where Willow's super powered friends were waiting for them. Well, where they were waiting for Willow and her big announcement, which was Tara. Only they didn't know that. Tara gulped before continuing, "Maybe we shouldn't do this."   
  
Seeing the hurt look on Willow's face, Tara rushed to explain, "Not us!" She reassured her girlfriend, who's expression softened with relief, "Just this whole telling your friends thing. Keeping us a secret wasn't so bad. I mean, I got to keep you all to myself...it was nice."   
  
Willow smiled and leaned across the seat to give Tara a reassuring kiss, "It'll be fine. It's not like their going to kill you. I'm mean it's not like your one of Xanders girlfriends!" Tara, strangely did not seem all to reassured at Willows words. Willow seemed to have reached a level of peace and calm on the whole situation, which did help Tara's confidence some.   
  
--  
  
He was lurking in the kitchen. He wasn't even trying to deny it. He was lurking and he was proud. 'Well not exactly proud. More like I've accepted the fact that my time among the good guys is slowly turning me into Poof Jr.' Spike sighed and glared at the wall separating him from the good guys, and then smirked as a solution presented itself, 'I'll just have to kill them more violently than originally planned.' Spike shrugged smugly, 'Which, recalling my original plan, is going to be hard to top. It's a good thing I'm me then isn't it?'   
  
Spike cocked his head to the side as he heard a car door close out front. And then frowned when he heard a second door close. 'Must be a neighbor.' Demon Girls predictions surely weren't accurate. Someone knocked on the front door and it opened before the Watcher could get to it. Spike wandered out to the hall that connected to the living room to see what was going on.   
  
'Hmm... guess it was the Witch.' He watched with a small amount of disgust as the Witch and her friends reunited like they'd been apart for years rather than a little over a day. He was watching as Demon Girl stood back from the group with a similar look on her face. He frowned at the sight of someone else, another blonde, standing in the doorway looking like she'd rather be taking a swan dive into an empty pool. Blonde No. 2 looked around the apartment from her position at the door, her eyes landing on him and lighting up in recognition.   
  
'Am I seeing things? Or did Blonde No. 2 just glare at me?" Spike asked himself and found himself returning said glare, his was superior of course, if her backing up the slightest bit was anything to judge on. The Witch introduced her new friend to everyone.   
  
Everyone except him.   
  
--  
  
"So, yeah... Why don't you all take a seat?" Wilow suggested as she walked to the couch. She saw Spike hovering in the hallway and made a quick introduction. She hadn't seen him. "Tara, this is Spike. Spike this is Tara." They didn't shake hands with each other like all the other Scoobies had done. 'Not that Spike's a Scooby. Just in the same room with them.' Instead they regarded each other coolly for a second before Willow and Tara returned their attention to the group of people now seated around the coffee table.   
  
"So how was everyones weekend?" Willow asked receiving a few strange looks from her friends. From their slightly suspicious sounding responses Willow got the impression that their weekends didn't suck, but they knew Willow didn't call for a meeting and introduce someone new, just to see how they were. That was good.   
  
"Well that's good." Willows answered a little to enthusiastically. She carried on as if she didn't notice, "Well, you know I have something to tell you all. Thats why I went to LA."   
  
"Are you sleeping with Angel?" Anya interrupted, Xander looked scandalized, and Buffy looked... a little angry. Like she actually believed it was a possibility. Giles hand was moving for his glasses.   
  
"What? No! Why would you even? Never mind. No, I didn't even see Angel this weekend."   
  
"Wesley then?"   
  
"Anya!"   
  
"What Xander? She's sleeping with someone. What is it you?" Anya asked looking at Tara. Everyone in the room except Willow, Tara, and Anya laughed at the very idea.   
  
"Well..." Tara replied, "Yes."   
  
The laughter immediately stopped. The sound of a door slamming and the slight squeaking of Giles eye glass cleaning cloth were the only sounds in the room for a long while.   
  
Finally Buffy said, "Oh. Well... Oh." She repeated that twice more.   
  
Xander kind of squeaked.   
  
Anya looked pleased with herself for figuring out the mystery. She finally broke the silence, "Well I think thats great Willow. Now I won't have to worry about you stealing Xander like a tramp." She stood up, "I'm glad for you. And me." She turned to Xander, "You should be glad too, now I won't have to find some way to eviscerate you. Can we go now?"   
  
Xander stood, looking like he didn't quite realize what he was doing. He nodded, probably in reply to Anya's question about their departure, and walked over to Willow. He gave Willow a very tight hug, "I'll process this and then we'll talk." He told her.   
  
"I wouldn't ask for anything else." Willow replied hugging him back, "Thanks Xander." They released each other and Xander walked over to Tara, he made as if to pat her shoulder, as he always kind of envisioned himself doing to Oz, had he not been so... Oz-y, and then he pulled back his hand to rub the back of his neck. Tara smiled at him sympathetically and held out her hand to be shook again. He seemed pleased by that option and shook her hand before leaving with Anya.   
  
After they left there was more silence, Willow took Xander's vacated seat.   
  
"So." Buffy said again, she opened her mouth a few times and looked looked towards Tara significantly and then looked away.   
  
"Um, Mr. Giles? Do you have a restroom I could use? Please?" Tara spoke up. Giles nodded and directed her down the hall. When they heard the bathroom door close, Buffy spoke up.   
  
"So then Willow," Buffy stared at Willow as if trying to gage whether it was truly Willow. Willow smiled in response. "Your gay then?"   
  
"Oh dear." Giles muttered to no one in particular.   
  
"Yep. That would be me, Gay Willow, the lesbian."   
  
"But what about Oz? And Xander? And your crush on Giles?" Buffy demanded, sounding near hysterics.   
  
"Oh lord. I'll be leaving the room for the moment. Go on as if I made a valid excuse." Giles all but ran into the kitchen. The sound of cupboards opening and glasses clinking soon reached them.  
  
Willow shrugged in response to Buffy's question, "I'm not sure. But I know I... well I'm pretty sure I love Tara. Or I could in the near future." She confessed, leaning towards Buffy as she confided her feelings. The way she did when they talked about boys. Or the way they used to. Buffy leaned in to, before realizing they were talking about a girl and not a boy and she leaned back the slightest bit.   
  
"You don't like, like me do you? You know, like that?" Buffy asked looking a little worried.   
  
"What? Of course not! No! Eww." Buffy looked affronted at Willows adamant refusal, and Willow squeaked out an apology.   
  
"Why not? Wait, no. Don't answer that."  
  
"So, are you okay with this?" Willow asked after a time, "I really want you to be alright with this."   
  
Buffy Summers took the time to consider the question. She looked at Willow, her best friend, and looked towards the bathroom, where her best friends girlfriend was, and then back at Willow, who was ringing her hands and looking very worried. But calm, and happy.   
  
"Are you happy?"   
  
"I am." Willow answered quickly nodding her head in the affirmative.   
  
"Well thats what really matters. And you know I love you. Not like that." Buffy rushed to elaborate, "But I do as a friend, and in time, once I process, I'll be okay with this. But for now I will be happy that your happy." Buffy nodded her head decisively, "Yes. I am happy for you. This is me, happy for you."  
  
"Happy and not weirded out?" Willow tried.   
  
"Happy and mostly not weirded out." She smiled at Willow, "You can probably tell your, uh, girlfriend it's okay to stop hiding in the bathroom now."   
  
--  
  
"So I think this was one of your better ideas." Tara informed Willow, they'd returned the car to the rental company, and now they were walking back to the college campus.   
  
"Yeah well, that's what I'm known for. My good ideas."  
  
"Oh I bet." Tara teased, swinging their linked hands the slightest bit.   
  
"So this is nice." Willow announced, "Walking down the street in broad moonlight, together, snuggly walking. To bad no ones out to see us. Sunnydale kinda dies at night."   
  
"Ha Ha."   
  
"I thought so." Willow smiled as she continued, "We could walk through the cemetery. People could see us then. People who we'd probably have to kill, cause you know, evil, but still..."   
  
"No, I think this is nice. A vampire free walk home." Tara replied, quickly curbing Willows thought process.   
  
"Well I wouldn't go that far." A voice commented behind the couple. Making them both jump and spin around, Willow's hand going for the stake she carried in her purse. She halted that movement when she saw who it was.   
  
"Spike. Hey! You disappeared!" Willow noticed for the first time. She hadn't seen him since she had introduced him to her girlfriend. 'My girlfriend' Willow mentally squealed tightening her hold on Tara's hand in giddiness. "Why'd you do that?"   
  
"I figured it was a friends only conversation. Hey." He nodded at Tara. Who nodded back, and likewise tightened her grip on Willows hand.   
  
"Oh well, your a friend." Willow looked at Spike apologetically as he grimaced at her words, "Our scary only there to tease and to exploit our weaknesses friend." She quickly added, he looked mildly appeased at that.   
  
"Well, I'll let you be on your way now." Spike pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his duster, he shook one out and lit it, "I'll see you later then."   
  
"Bye Spike." Tara waved with her free hand before they turned around and started back towards their destination. They'd only gotten a few feet when Spike called after them,   
  
"Hey! Congratulations, Willow." He had ducked down an alley and disappeared by the time Willow had opened her mouth to say thanks.  
  
---  
  
The End  
  
Authors Note: That was the end. For now at least, I'm planning a sequel. I'm sorry this story didn't end up completly as promised. It's more Willow/Tara than Willow/Spike I'm not sure how it ended up that way. It just did. Think of it as a prequel to a story set in the future of Buffyverse, wherein (I promise) Willow and Spike will get together. 


End file.
